The present disclosure relates to additive manufacturing and, more particularly, to an additively manufactured non-contact support.
Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) is an additive manufacturing technique in which a laser is utilized to sinter powdered material. The laser may be guided by a 3D model to bind the powdered material and grow a solid structure component.
When constructing the component via DMLS, a recoat direction must be considered, as attempts to construct an “unfriendly” angle, such as an acute angle that faces the recoater blade, may be difficult, if not impossible without damage thereto. When the recoater blade reaches the sharp edge formed by the acute between the part and the build plate, the recoater blade may damage the component, the recoater blade may be damaged, and/or the build will fail.
The current solution for such unfriendly angles is to extrude the surface itself down to the build plate, sacrifice other properties, or increase build time to achieve a more suitable orientation.